Rebuild

Have you ever just wanted to take the life that you have worked hard to build for yourself and just tear it all down and create a new one? Whether it be switching careers, moving, going green, or changing your whole belief system - it can be a scary, overwhelming, and exciting thing all at once. That's what we're doing around here. We are re-evaluating. We are re-defining. We are really examining what may or may not dictate our happiness. Maybe lots will change, maybe nothing will change. But no matter what, we are gonna do it our way.  We are always gonna do it our way....

Sundays

Aren't Sunday mornings the best when you don't have anywhere to go? Today was rainy and thundery and it was the perfect morning to sit and do nothing with our messy hair, pj wearing, groggy, sleepy selves. The living room was full of toys, the TV was on, and we vegged. Dad laid on the couch, cause he was tired from painting the new baby's room last night.  Mom cleaned up the morning dishes and took a few pictures of Maya sitting in her little rocking chair and then joined the lazy morning party. 

It's funny cause I was totally one of those Moms that was like, "I'm not letting my kids watch TV till they are in school. Then Maya turned one and that all changed. Hey, a half hour of Blues Clues here and there is a God send if it means she will sit still for a bit. You may remember me taking about my take on TV, and how I just didn't watch it for a while. I still don't watch a whole lot but after working all day and taking care of Maya it is nice to put your feet up at the end of the day and catch a little Grey's Anatomy! 

What did you do this Sunday morning?

Baby Talk

Time for a baby update!  

So I'm 21 weeks. I got Chris to take a few belly pictures of me after we were running around outside with Maya. This pregnancy I definitely feel like I am carrying a bit different than with Maya, my skin is horrible, and I can't get enough apple juice. Other than that, things are mostly the same as my last pregnancy as far as symptoms and cravings goes. 

One big thing is I have been exercising a lot more with this pregnany. I'm not just walking like I did last time, I am actually still going to my cardio-kickboxing classes. I missed a few weeks recently when they were closed and Chris was working afternoons (it sucks now that I'm back to work cause that means only night classes for me!) - but other than that, I have been going pretty regularly. I think it has made a big difference in a lot of ways in terms of energy and not having as many aches and pains.  In the classes I feel like a huge dinosaur - especially against all the 20 year olds wearing short tank tops and showing off their abs - but every time I see myself in the mirror (and laugh on the inside at the hilarity of how I look jumping around) I tell myself, "Well, at least I'm here". 

Eating on the other hand has pretty much been a free for all. No restrictions really, been getting my fruits and vegetables but also eating sweets every day. It is bad I know. 

We had our ultrasound last week and found out it's a boy!!!!!!

More on that later. 

I always thought it would be cool to do a video to send people, announcing the gender, but I am just not that creative and hey, I'm no film maker!  Here is one, and another one I think are sweet. This one and this one is cute too. 

Family Time

A day at the park. 

Kisses

Isn't it the cutest thing when kids start to learn how to kiss? Since Maya has learned how to give kisses she has been kissing everything under the sun... her toys, her stuffed animals, her hairbrush, her food, the floor, the furniture, and any random object. She has also learned how to blow kisses which is ultra cute. I think she learned it at day care cause one day she just came home and started doing it.

The funniest though is when one year olds give you the open mouth slimeball kiss. Maya pulled one on her Dad the other day as evidenced in these photos. So funny. Daddy said, "Give me a kiss", and Maya did just that, but it was not what Daddy was expecting...

Hopefully one day she will get it right. 

Here is a video of her kissing her stuffed animal. So sweet. 

And speaking of kissing, Gunther's girlfriend is back! She stopped coming around for a long time and out of the blue she showed up the other day. Gunther was pleased. 

Meal Time

So since I have been back at work I have really been struggling with meal times. If we don't plan ahead we end up having grilled cheese or cereal. Seriously. And then Maya ends up just having whatever raw veggies, fruit, or yogurt we have lying around the house with it just so we can at least say we gave her all her servings. Hardly a wholesome way of having dinner around our house. I made a few things for the freezer, but you can only eat so much of that. So, I took an idea from Pinterest  and made a board where we can plan our meals for the week, then we can write down the groceries needed and plan ahead. We will have to do some prep work the night before, but I am determined to get in the swing of things with this whole working mother thing. So here is my board, I put a letter stamp on each clothes pin, representing a day of the week and made it look purdy with some wood letters and some stickers. Voila! This is my finished product. Now we just have to put it to use. 

At least Maya is starting to get more teeth and getting pretty good with chewing up her food so that makes things much easier in terms of what to make. Gotta love her dorky crooked teeth smile!

Party Time!

Oh Maya, did we ever have a wonderful birthday party today! First we set up and got everything ready. Mom decided to do a teddy bear picnic theme since you seemed to like the "Teddy Bear Picnic" song. 

 

Then the guests started arriving. You looked so cute in your party dress!

You played and played with all the kids, and lots of them brought their teddy bears with them. We even had time to play a quick bear hunt game. 

 

There was some piano playing, running around outside, and of course presents were opened. What a lucky girl, you got so many nice things!

Everyone gathered to sing happy birthday and you tasted some cake. You weren't overwhelmed with all of the attention like we thought you would be. You were a star the whole day!

For a while you kept rolling around on the ground, playing with your dress, taking it all in. 

You had such a great day. We couldn't have asked for more. You were charming, sweet, smiley and just your wonderful self. You played hard my little girl. We had all of our friends and family around and the house was filled with laughter and cheer. We couldn't have asked for a better day. 

But let me tell you...... after you kissed everyone goodbye, and the house was empty, and you started to come down from all of the hyper, crazy, indulgently wonderful festivities......you looked a little messy and tired. 

And so you sat down in the chair with Mom and within thirty seconds your sweet eyes were shut and you gave one sigh of contentment...... and it was time to go to sleep. 

Awesome.